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What should Congress do about the Iran nuclear deal?

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear program announced by negotiators in Switzerland during a statement in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington Thursday. (REUTERS/Mike Theiler)

WWCD (What will Congress do)?

That is, when it comes to the framework for a long-awaited, (already) much-maligned nuclear deal with Iran. Surely you haven’t already forgotten the 47 U.S. senators who sent a letter to Iran’s leaders before the negotiations in Switzerland even began, warning that they could quash any deal with the current administration in the future? Didn’t think so.

As a result, after Thursday’s announcement that the U.S., Iran and five world powers agreed on a preliminary deal designed to contain Iran’s nuclear program — one that would restrict Iran’s ability to enrich uranium and subject it to international inspections, but which also would provide some sanctions relief for the Islamic Republic — you have to wonder about Congress?

Following is how Slate put it:

Theagreement, if it holds, could prove to be President Barack Obama’s biggest foreign policy achievement, one that comes from his conviction that it’s worth engaging even longtime adversaries such as Tehran. However, it is likely to attract criticism from many Republicans as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have already denounced the negotiations with Tehran.

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It’s a “good deal,” Obama declared Thursday, calling it “a historic understanding with Iran which, if implemented, will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

“I am convinced that if this framework leads to a final deal, it will make our country and the world safer,” Obama said in a statement in the White House Rose Garden. The deal would “cut off every pathway that Iran could take to develop a nuclear weapon.”